The invention relates to an arrangement for gathering or assembling printed sheets into semi-finished products for producing bound printed products. The arrangement has several side-by-side arranged replaceable feeder units positioned along a conveying device. The individual feeder units include at least two feeders for supplying printed sheets to the conveying device and the conveying device includes pushers. Each feeder unit can be fitted onto an undercarriage and each feeder unit is assigned an interface section for controlling the operation and for supplying available power.
Arrangements of the aforementioned type are known to one skilled in the art in the form of gathering machines for perfect binders or assembling devices and/or gathering conveyors for gathering and wire-stitching machines. These arrangements are provided with a plurality of feeders arranged along the gathering arrangement, which supply the conveying device with printed products. Even though the principles for supplying these feeding devices are similar, there are certain differences with respect to design and embodiment. These differences at least include the desire for a highly economic operation depending on the size of the edition to be processed, as well as depending on the complexity of the printed products or the printed sheets to be processed and/or on the finished products.
Complex printing products may include, for example, several printed sheets, glued-in cards and/or goods samples, sheets to be bound in at the open side, or sheets with a final fold at the top. All printed sheets or signatures, which deviate from standard and/or easy to process format, require specifically designed feeders for the processing. The position of such feeders along the conveying device is furthermore also determined by the type of embodiment used and the predetermined form and/or the content of the printed products to be produced. For technical reasons in the area of manufacturing, transport, and assembly, the undercarriage may include several strung-together undercarriage segments.
Owing to the high expenditure for an arrangement of this type, one object of the invention is to provide a more economic use for the known arrangement that includes several elements. Gathering machines for the processing of standard-type printed sheets or signatures are known. The gathering machines include identical machine elements, strung-together as seen in conveying direction, wherein each machine element forms a unit that cannot be further divided. With this type of design, a uniform infrastructure is provided for the machine elements, for example for the feeder drive, the separating elements, or the holding back devices.
Two different types of structural designs are generally known for these gathering machines: Type I machines and Type II machines. First, Type I machines are machines that operate at a low production speed for processing standard printed sheets, which function as simple gathering machines without flexibility. Second, Type II machines include machines operating at a higher production speed and optionally include different feeders, and have a higher degree of flexibility. Client needs require the market to provide additional gathering machines which have a certain amount of flexibility, without simultaneously requiring a high production output.